The Handle Bar Indoor Cycling Studio

July 13, 2013

On Thursday evening, I had the pleasure of participating in a spinning class at The Handle Bar in South Boston. I was invited””along with some friends””to try out one of their classes for free. And, let me tell ya, it was a great time!

The Handle Bar is located in Southie on the corner of Dorchester and W. Forth, right across from the Broadway T station, which is great for people who work in the city and take the Red line south. You could easily hop off the T for a class and then continue home after, which is exactly what one of my friends did on Thursday night.

Oh, and the parking isn’t that bad in this part of Southie. A bunch of us found non-resident, 2-hour parking with no problem.

The class schedule at The Handle Bar varies a little bit from day-to-day with five weekday classes (early morning, lunchtime, and evening) and few on Saturday and Sunday. Each class is 45 minutes. We took the 7:15 PM class with Jess, who is the owner and manager.

When I arrived at The Handle Bar, I was warmly greeted by a few different employees. Jess and another woman were working the front desk””checking people in and renting out spin shoes. There were also a couple of people helping newbies set up their bikes for class.

The bikes at The Handle Bar are not compatible with regular sneakers, so they offer shoe rental for $2 per pair or you can wear your own. I usually just wear my sneakers for spin class, so I was excited to try cycling shoes for the first time. I definitely liked “clipping in” and felt more connected to the bike during the workout.

The class itself was great. I loved that Jess had us moving all over the bike””2 counts in the saddle, 2 counts standing, etc. I felt like we were never sitting for more than a few minutes at a time (on a hill or something), so it kept things interesting and fun, and the time really flew by. I also really liked that the studio had cool air blowing the entire class, so it never got hot and muggy like it sometimes does.

I also really loved the live DJ at class. I loved the music he played and he worked with Jess to coordinate his music with our workout. It was so cool. It also made the class a bit more challenging because 1) there were no music breaks and 2) the music pumped me up and pushed me harder. I’m a huge fan of the live DJ.

CrossFit 781 ladies at The Handle Bar! Thanks so much for coming, lady beasts! Let’s do it again soon!

Wow that sounds like such an awesome class and workout! I’ve never been to a class before with live music but I love the idea it sounds great. As do clip in spin shoes they sound like they would let you push harder and not worry so much about your feet staying in.

That place looks fantastic! I have done midnight yoga classes to live music, which was really cool. I think the coolest workout I have ever done was a spin class (my first and only) at the Solage resort in Calistoga.

That looks like an amazing workout!
I think the closest I got to a DJ in class was a yoga class with a drummer 🙂
Coolest workout is a trekking class–about 30-35 min on the treadmill with varying incline, speed, etc and you cover an intense 4-5 miles. And then there’s another 10-15 minutes off the treadmill for core.

That looks like an awesome studio! Very clean, attention to detail, and LOVE the idea of live music. I have never taken a class with that, but it seems like it’d be a blast. I’m getting back into spin again and love it, but also hate it too. HA!

I need to come and move where you are Tina! Your area has so much to offer! I love spin but I have never had a live DJ in my class before! Besides crossfit, spin has to be the best interactive workout/class I have attended. I wouldnt turn them down anyday.

Love your review of Handlebar! I have seen it just driving around Boston and always wanted to venture in. Your article gave me so many reasons to actually do it. Super excited to see a new form of spinning, live DJ sounds pretty cool.